Fuel and process of production



Patented J an. '8, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT'I' OFFICE.

.A. GHARBONNEAUX, OF SAN FRANCTSCO CALIFORNIA.

rum. Am) rnocnss or PRODUCTION.

1T Drawing.

To all whom it my concern:

Be it known 'that I, EDWARD A.'CHAR-- ..BONNEAU X, a citizen of the FrenchRepublic,

residing at San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in,

Fuel and Processes of Production, of which the following is a specification. 1

This invention relates to composition of matter, and particularly pertains to liquid fuels.

, Dueto the present shortage and probably future scarcity of petroleum as a source of heavy fuels for oil burning apparatus and light oils for internal combustion engines, it has been found desirable to provide a liquid fuel substitute, readily adapted to displace heavy or light hydrocarbons.

With this. idea in view, it is the principal object of the present invention to provide means for enriching easily obtained liq iid v hydrocarbons, such as alcohol, and thereby rendering them suitable as substitutes for mineral hydrocarbons of the petroleum group.

The present invention contemplates the use of crude or raw alcohol derived from any source, and to which liquid or solid soluble hydrocarbons are added, to produce freely a desirable, hydrocarbon fuel.

At the present time alcohol may be obtained from many sources in inexhaustible quantities. This liquid alone is too lean, too light, and lacking of elasticity, however, for practical use, as a fuel, and in the present instance,. a soluble liquid or solid hydrocarbon is produced by a process hereinafter to be described, and is added to the alcohol burning, smokeless to raise its carbon content, to increase its elasticity and power. The soluble solid or liquid hydrocarbon may be obtained from many sources, as for example: petro leum of any gravity, hydrocarbon oils of vegetable derivation used in a liquid or solid or concrete state, that is to say, including the rosins and gum rosins. This soluble hydrocarbon is recovered from oils or gum rosins in the form of a thick, sticky, dense, viscous liquid, or spongy dry matter, according to the material used in the production. This is done by nitrification, for example,'by adding five,

ten or more parts of concentrated nitric acid to one hundred parts of petroleum crude oilcontammg nitratable ingredients, such and Application filed December 20, 1920. Serial No. 432,043.

as the California petroleum oils. The mixture is. put over a gentlefire and stirred. It boils emitting red fumes. The end of the reaction is indicated when the red fumes cease. When the mixture is cooled it will be noticed that the oil of petroleum which was homogenous before the beginning of the action has now been broken up and separates in a number of different layers. The lightest one is white or pale yellow, iscomposed of the oils of Vaseline and paraflin and is insoluble in nitric acid and alcohol; Another one is a heavy tarry substance insoluble in nitric acid and alcohol. Another, layer is a brown sticky substance soluble in alcohol but insoluble in nitric acid. It isfthis substance which is the object of the present application and which may be called a soluble extract of petroleum or nitrated extract of petroleum or a nitrated colloidal substance which is a product of the treatment of certain petroleum oils with nitric acid. .The same process is applied to theh drocarbon oils of vegetable derivation, ISO to powdered gum rosins for the purpose of obtaining a soluble liquid .or

solid 'hydrocarbon thor oughly oxidized.v

The only difierence. when dealing with such various products is to eliminate the use of heat when the hydrocarbons are vegetable,

as the oxidization of vegetable hydrocarbons is rapidly broughtabout ,by nitric acid without heat. Heat is, however, desirable when working with mineral hydrocarbons, as they are not so readily oxidized as the vegetable ones, thus requiring that the mixture 'be' gently heated as the oxidization proceeds.

The reaction is indicated by the emission of red, nitrous acid fumes and an elevation of '95 temperature. When the nitrification is completed, it will be noted that the liquid resolves itself into three strata, the upper portion of bituminous substance, w ich forms a. sediment in the alcoholic solution, and may be separated therefrom by straining or .decantation'f The lowermost layer layer being of a tarry nature.-

consists of the exhausted nitric acidlused in the process, and which acid may be partlyregenerated and recuperated if desired. I A stillheavier layeris evolved when very dense ydrocarbon mineral oils are "used, such It will be readily recognized that-the light upper layer may be used; as amineralhydrocarbon oil .forvarious purposes, while being susceptible to further, nitrification, to

ield. a proportion of soluble hydrocarbon, he'lowe'r layer might also be-of 'com'mer-.

\ cial value, while that part of the acid. used. in the process may be saved, thus providing by-products, which would in themselves afford a considerable revenue, in additionto that obtained by the soluble hydrocarbon,

which is who mixed-with alcohol.

It' is well known that petroleum is not soluble in alcohol, due to its peculiar content of mineraloil. The nitrification of the petroleum will eliminate objectionable mineral matter, as well'asother heavy products, at the same time bringing about oxidation.

This will insure that when the alcohol and the soluble hydrocarbonv substance, have formed 'a' fuel combustion will take place 1 at a high temperature, and with aflame free from unllrurr'ied'carbon.-

It will: also be understoodthat during the process of producing)e he soluble hydro-' .carbon, apparatus may .provided for the recovery of the nitrous acid fumes. In the instance of nitrif'ying hydrocarbon oils,- liquids or solids o'f vegetable derivation an adequate apparatus would permit the recove of valuable, by-products, consisting in v0 atile oils of the aromatic group, as:

' terebene, terpinol, and --the like, according -v tain a lar One of the liquids ina be used 'for heating I of desired proportions ofthe soluble hydro be made toescap'e from a nozzle, throng 4 which it is forced by pressure, while the carbon 'in alcohol, as for'example': alcohol,

one hundred: parts, soluble hydrocarbon, preferably one to three parts, and in some instancesthe'solution might be a saturated one. .In. burning this fuel the liquid ma vapors are continuously ignited'by' a small pilot light; This will msure'that the atomized fuel will burn without smoke or' resicrude petroleum with nitric acid, which 1 'liquidfuel ma be produced in.

due;

Another the same manner previous y described, with the addition of a vo1atile, combustible liquid such as anether, or other extremely light ydro'carbon. 3 this mixturelan explosi-vefuel is obtain A 'general formulfla made, *without" departin forv such a fuel would be:. alcohol, one hundred parts, soluble hydrocarbon,- one on to three parts, and twenty parts of an ether, (sulphuric, amylic,'oenan tic,' -acetio, nitric, amylacetate, acetone, and the like).' Such a fuel may be readily carbureted to produce a gas for explosive engines.

' It will thus be'seen that'by treating minera] and vegetable liquid or concrete hydrocarbons, by nitrification, I a desirable oxidized soluble hydrocarbon will be obtained for v.use"ine'nrichin'g alcohols, and that addition,a gaseous fuel and numerous valu- U able by-products may be recovered, render- .ing the processcommeroially profitable, and

at the. same time providing means for "uti-' lizing alcohol as a; fuel, which liquid may be obtained in large quantities,- and' which;

when enriched by the soluble hydrocarbon,

will-produce fuel substitute forheavyheating'. fuels, as well as the lighter volatile -fuels, thus sparing the questionable stock 8 6- of petroleum and providing for an adequate fuelf, While I have shown ,the. preferred form of my invention as now .known to me, and have disclosed a preferable embodiment thereof, both as to the constituents and the process of treating the same, it is to. be

[understood that various changes in the in'- gradients and their proportions might be g from theispirit of the invention, as claimed. 7 Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is: e

'1. A method of makinga liquid fuel com;

:prising treating crude oil containing nitrat' able ingredients with nitric acid," separating the nitrated product and. mixing it with suit able proportions of alcohol.

'2. A liquid fuel consisting principally of 1 alcohol'and containing the oxidized prod u cts resulting from the nitration of. crude 3.'A'-"'liquid fuel consisting of 100 partsof alcohol, to which is added from 1' to 3 11 parts of the. oxidized products resulting -.from the nitration of crude oil.

rocessleaves the paraflin hydrocarbons and inert bituminous material untouched and "produces an oxidized or nitrificated mixture of hydrocarbons.

EDWARD A. oHARBo NEAUxQ 

